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Abstract

Physical and metaphorical borders between the United States and Mexico are the subject of both Feeding Ground, a graphic novel, and El mundo gira, an X-Files episode. Drawing on Giorgio Agamben's theory of the werewolf and Anne Whitehead’s theory of trauma fiction, I argue that the visual repetitions that characterize these distinct visual media emphasize the trauma of being an immigrant and of living on the border, or the in-between, amidst differing cultures, languages and identities. Ultimately, Feeding Ground and El mundo gira present themselves as works of the horror genre but with a commitment to social justice, fusing so-called high and low culture and setting an important precedent for other works of popular culture.

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Physical and metaphorical borders between the United States and Mexico are the subject of both Feeding Ground, a graphic novel, and El mundo gira, an X-Files episode. Drawing on Giorgio Agamben's theory of the werewolf and Anne Whitehead’s theory of trauma fiction, I argue that the visual repetitions that characterize these distinct visual media emphasize the trauma of being an immigrant and of living on the border, or the in-between, amidst differing cultures, languages and identities. Ultimately, Feeding Ground and El mundo gira present themselves as works of the horror genre but with a commitment to social justice, fusing so-called high and low culture and setting an important precedent for other works of popular culture.

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